Mystery Shopper: Warrington

STAPLES

I ENTERED the warehouse-styled store, which was stacked from floor to ceiling with various products, and walked over to the PC section, where I started to look at the monitors that were on display. I had only been there for a couple of minutes when a man approached, smiling, and asked what he could do to help. 

After I told him what I wanted he pointed to the 19-inch LG M1994D for £159.87, with a saving of £20 and then suggested the 22-inch LG M2294 model for £199.28, which had a saving of £25. “These two models have both got inbuilt Freeview and HDMI,” he said. It was obvious that he was getting this information from the ticket on the shelf – when I asked what the resolution was he simply read it all again and told me that he didn’t know.
I asked him if there was any literature I could take with me and was told that there wasn’t anything, “I’m just going to write down the information so I don’t forget,” I told him. Before I found a pen he said: “If you need anything else let me know.” And with that he walked away.

I was far from blown away by the customer service or product range that Staples offered. Overall the service was friendly, but I could tell that more product training was needed by the staff members. I left feeling that I didn’t get enough information on the products recommended.

Score: 7/10

COMET

ON SETTING foot into Comet, I noticed it felt more closed in than other Comet stores, which tend to have a larger floor space on entry. There was a small counter area to my left with a lady serving a customer. A member of staff headed back to behind the till area and looked in my direction. “How can I help you?” he asked. I told him what I was looking for and he walked me to the back of the store,where a selection of monitors was displayed.

The assistant pointed to the 22-inch HP 2159M. “That would be the best for you,” he said triumphantly, but gave me no reasons why, or any other type of information. “Why is that?” I pushed after a while. He then pointed to a sticker which said HDMI in the top left corner, “It’s HDMI, so it’ll be better quality resolution.” I asked if it was 1080. “I don’t think so,” he said, and started to read the ticket information. “Oh yes it is – it’s 1920 x 1080 – this is the best monitor for the price. The next size up, the 24-inch, is exactly the same but bigger and it’s £329.99. The resolution is actually better on the 22-inch screen for almost half of the price.”

I asked if there was any literature I could take home with me and I was told straight away that there was nothing available. Then he said: “We’ve got a Computing Buyer’s Guide, but they won’t be in it.” He walked over to the end gondola, grabbed a booklet and began to flick through it. “Oh, they are in here!” he exclaimed and passed it to me. I took the booklet and thanked him. After reading the page he left it open on, I began to look at the other monitors on display. The assistant stood there silently, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable, so I thanked him for his time and left.

I was happy with the overall recommendation for my needs, but felt that more training was needed for store staff on both product knowledge and selling skills. The product range was decent with quite a variety, which was all on display on two bays.

Score: 5/10

CASTLE COMPUTERS

I WENT into the small, clean and tidy store and saw different computers and peripherals in glass cabinets dotted around the place. “I won’t keep you one minute,” said the shopkeeper. He was smartly dressed, with a branded Castle Computers shirt on.

I looked around the store and less than a minute later he approached me asking how he could help. I said that I wanted an LCD monitor and explained it was for gaming and watching HD movies.

First a 22-inch AMW Multimedia VGA HDMI DVI was suggested, costing £162.15. I was surprised as it was the second cheapest monitor the store stocked; I could see that he wasn’t just trying to sell me the top of the range model. “Is that going to be the best for what I need? I would prefer quality over price,” I said.

“In that case I would recommend one of the two Viewsonic models,” he replied, pointing to the sheet, showing me the 22-inch Viewsonic VX2260WM 2 MS LCD Multimedia Wide Screen Monitor DVI/HDMI 1080, costing £213.28, and the 24-inch Viewsonic VX2433WM 2 MS LCD Multimedia Wide Screen Monitor DVI/HDMI 1080, costing £241.02. “The resolution is 1080, so that will be high definition, which means better picture quality. You get a really good three-year warranty with the Viewsonic ones as well.”

I asked him if I could see one, but unfortunately they did not have any demo models on the shop floor. However, I was given the sheet to take home with me. As I was on my way out an older gentleman came through the back door, also with a Castle Computer’s shirt, and shouted ‘goodbye’ to me.

I was happy with the overall customer service – the assistant was friendly and helpful – but it was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t see or touch one of the monitors in person.

Score: 8/10

TESCO EXTRA

THE PC section in this Tesco Extra was actually quite small and there were only two monitors on display; both were covered in dust and sat on a small shelf.

I looked around trying to get some attention, but it was not forthcoming so I decided I would have to find assistance instead. I saw an electrical service desk where one lady was serving a man buying a PS3 game and while I was waiting there another lady approached me. I told her my plight and she walked me over to the two monitors which I had already looked at.

“This is all we have,” she said. I asked her if they were LCD. “I’m not sure,” she replied, as she turned the screens around and read the back of them. “This one is,” she said, pointing to the 18-inch Acer X193HQB for £79.00. It was by far the smallest, dirtiest monitor I had seen. I asked about the 22-inch LG WZZ34SBN for £139. She told me that she would take the ticket and find out more about it.

After about five minutes of waiting she came back. “We’ve sold out of those ones. The best thing to do is to get our Tesco Direct catalogue at the front of the shop – there will be a bigger range in there. We can then order one in-store for you.” I thanked her for her time and went to get a catalogue.

After a good five minutes of looking I couldn’t find them, so walked to the greeter at the front of the store. He helped me search again, but it turned out that the shop had run out of catalogues and no one knew when more would come in.

This was disappointing as this store didn’t have what I wanted and the advice and recommendations I got could not be fulfilled. The service was friendly enough, but I felt as though I had wasted my time, especially as I couldn’t find a catalogue to look at. I would not go to a supermarket to get PC monitors.

Score: 5/10

PC WORLD

THIS was an average looking PC World, and as I walked up its central aisle a staff member also walked towards me. He smiled and asked how he could help me.

I said I wanted an LCD monitor and he told me to follow him, asking a few questions on the way as to my monitor needs and what I would be using it for the most. I felt as though he was genuinely trying to find out my requirements instead of just trying to sell or make recommendations without listening to what I needed.

He suggested the 22-inch Widescreen Asus PG221H for £149.97, with a saving of £50 and the 22-inch Widescreen HP 2159v for £149.99. He went through the main advantages of both. “The ASUS has HDMI connectivity, so even though the resolution is not high definition (1680x1050) the picture will still be great. The HP has got a resolution of 1920x1080, but has no HDMI connection; it is only VGA.”

I asked him if there was any literature I could take away with me and was told there wasn’t, but he could print off the details. He wrote down the numbers and said he wouldn’t be long. Less than five minutes had passed before he was back with both print-outs. As I was looking at them he told me that with the 2ms response rate of the Asus, compared to the 5ms response rate of the HP, along with better speakers (which I would notice more while watching movies) the best choice for me would be the Asus, plus there was £50 off the price.

Overall, this was a very pleasant shopping experience, from the layout of the store to the smartly turned-out staff. There was no hard sell approach and the conversation was very informative without getting bogged down with too much jargon. There was a good product range as well, although I would expect this from PC World.

Score: 9/10

CURRYS

AS I walked into the store a man was standing not far from the entrance. He smiled, greeted me and asked what I wanted. I explained my reason for being in the shop and he shouted for a girl to come over. He asked: “Can you take this lady to the PC monitors? She wants an LCD monitor.”

The assistant led me to a gondola end with six monitors squeezed on it and the only question she asked was what size I wanted, so there was little establishment of my requirements. I asked her which ones were LCD. She read the ticket information, then walked over to the original member of staff for advice.

She came back and told me that the 22-inch Samsung P2250 and the 22-inch Samsung T220 were the best ones, but gave me no reasons why. I asked her if they were going to be good for playing games and watching HD movies. She read the ticket information again and said: “You don’t get an HMDI connection, but if you go for the one with a higher resolution, you get 1920x1080 on the P2250, whereas the T220 only has 1680x1050, so the picture and sound quality won’t be as good.”
I asked her if there was anything I could take with this information on it and she said that she would print it off for me. She reappeared a few minutes later with the two print-outs. “If you need anything else let me know,” she said and left me looking at the papers.

I was a bit disappointed with the overall product knowledge of the assistant. I felt that the greeter could have selected a member of staff who knew more about monitors. They clearly had better product knowledge and yet had passed me on to her. On the plus side, there were more monitors in Currys compared to some other stores that I’d visited, but my shopping experience fell short and most likely would not have resulted in a sale.

Score: 6/10

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